A DC Weekend // Client Family Photo Shoot

I just love how this shoot came about. One of my dear college friends, who also lives here in DC, approached me: Her childhood bestie was coming to visit for a girls’ weekend with her two daughters, and would I do a family photo shoot? How cool would it be to for them to have some new family photos, and even more fun that they’d be from their special trip to DC to visit their auntie? Pretty hard to turn down! I gave two caveats: I specialize in newborns and babies, so most of my children subjects are four years old or younger, and I also typically do in-home shoots… With that said, I accepted.

We met on a beautiful Friday morning in Georgetown and warmed the girls up with treats from Baked & Wired. Their bars are to die for. Georgetown was the perfect spot because we knew it would be a sunny morning, but you can easily find some shade-enclosed spaces in its many alleys and side streets. So we explored!

This, to me, is what it feels like to be a mom. Holding the full weight of your family, carefully balanced to support everyone and stay upright yourself, doing all that in a not-quite-level setting… yet still showing the pure joy in her face of being ‘mom’ to these girls:

What I learned? Seven-year olds listen to you!! And when older sis does, a four-year old listens pretty well, too. A stark contrast to my two- and four-year old crazies… They also listen very well to their auntie — they love and respect for her was evident. Of course, we included her in the action:

What I took away from this shoot? While I love what I’ve chosen to specialize in, it’s great practice to get out of your comfort zone and photograph a different type of subject in a different setting. It was a good exercise to change up my typical settings (loved shooting at a lower ISO!), and it was fun to use posing techniques I don’t usually get to try on toddlers. And to hang out with these ladies was just plain fun 🙂